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Buying a house around here sucks!

stan23 said:
funny, we just bought our place and got accepted first offer, and first place we put an offer on--even with higher $$ offers on the table. The owner accepted our offer because of our letter and family picture :)
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that's how we got ours - they had multiple offers, and ours was based on a contingency...they chose us, and knocked off $10K

a nice letter and pics of the kiddos does not hurt :thumbup
 
CHUM said:
that's how we got ours - they had multiple offers, and ours was based on a contingency...they chose us, and knocked off $10K

a nice letter and pics of the kiddos does not hurt :thumbup
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I didn't have kids at the time so I sent some pics of the wife. They wanted to meet her in person-she came back all exhausted with a copy of the title and told me the hot tub has to go before we move in. Idk what she said to 'em, but it must've been epic-her voice was gone for a week.
 
stan23 said:
funny, we just bought our place and got accepted first offer, and first place we put an offer on--even with higher $$ offers on the table. The owner accepted our offer because of our letter and family picture :)
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There's a lot on win in this post. One of my closest friends closed a deal for $20k less than the leading offer with a letter, it said "sell me the house if you want to live."

No but seriously, they took his offer because they wanted a family to live in their old home- no to sell it as someone else investment.
 
Well I don't have a wife to pull that same sorta trick. My cat is really cute though, I could maybe pimp her out. There were some handsome male cats at the house who might take a liking to a six-toed siamese.
 
When I sold my house, I was happy to sell it to a young couple who were going to put sweat-equity into the house like I had. Now I am just hoping someone feels the same way about me! :D time will tell. As much as I bitch I am patient at least.
 
It's also a horrible renters market. The place I am in is not secure. I could get booted at any time (no lease). So I want to be looking in case I get lucky. But I am not going to start selling cars in order to out-bid the other guy. I am trying to keep a level head. I know it should start calming down a little bit the more we get closer to December and then pick back up by next march or so. Happens every year.
 
Yea, because no one wants to move around the holidays. Including sellers.
 
interest rates are at all time historical lows. you won't see rates like this again in your lifetime. ot to mention the market has pretty much bottomed out and is on the uptick. I would think now of all times would be the time to buy. you just have to be patient.
 
Lester Green said:
interest rates are at all time historical lows.

you won't see rates like this again in your lifetime.

not to mention the market has pretty much bottomed out and is on the uptick.

I would think now of all times would be the time to buy.

you just have to be patient.
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most people are absolutely horrible at timing things. 4 out of 5 of your statements has a timing component. which means your statements are unreliable.

there are better ways to make such a large decision than relying on numerous predictions (which, let's be honest, are likely inaccurate). also, the more predictions, the more likely you'll be wrong.

i will agree mortgage payments in the bay area are low compared to long term averages but this doesn't mean you should buy.
a person with common-sense will instead ask: can i afford the mortgage payment plus other costs (even though they are quite low)? even at today's historically low rates the majority of people (in the bay area) can not afford to buy.
 
forgot this was teh barfs. should have qualified my post by saying IF YOU CAN AFFORD TO, now is the time to buy. YMMV.

got to spell out everything around here. nothing is presumed..
 
I feel your pain, we are trying to close on a home as I type, missed out on 8-10 over the last 6 months, have a realitor we've used for years. but he's old school, and wouldn't let us place multiple bids at the same time. (says it's not ethical...) Ended up looking "outside the box" and making an offer on an estate thats been mothballed for 6 years (while being maintained, watered etc.) The pain in the ass part is I'm a VA buyer, so LOTS of sellers don't want to mess with the paperwork. We had all out paperwork in order, including a letter from our lender showing we are pre-qualified, and can fund the loan in 20 days. The hard part about a VA loan is they will fund up to the appraised value, NO MORE, and the VA appraisers are super conservative, to the point our appraiser said in his write up "housing prices are "flat" in the greater Bay Area"....WHAT?!?! We are contesting the appraisal, but will eventually close, hopefully next week. Good luck with your quest, ya just gotta keep trying. Fucking Chineese investors are buying everything they can get, and renting the shit back to us, at some point the Feds have to step in and put a stop to that shit. I'm all about free markets, but we are selling our own country away..........:thumbdown


Closing Guy. :thumbup
 
I know, I have watched houses shoot up more than 10K a month. I finally got cash from my sale up in WA and started looking. I can *just* barely afford to buy now. I want to get in to build equity, but I know that I have to be careful and not end being a repeat of 2008.

I'm going with an FHA, which is in the same boat as VA.

It the market continues to climb I will be priced out by next year. Even with stock vesting.

Maybe I should start looking for a sugar momma instead. Am I going about this all wrong after all? :D
 
If your going to buy, now is the time. Beware though, homes in desirable neighborhoods will have plenty of competition, and you'll need to go over asking by a substantial amount, it helps (as Stan mentioned) to get the listing agent to like you, as they can influence the seller on which offer to take.

Here in Santa Clara, it's getting pretty bad, alot of homes have multiple bids and sell very quickly.
 
silverbelt said:
If your going to buy, now is the time. Beware though, homes in desirable neighborhoods will have plenty of competition, and you'll need to go over asking by a substantial amount, it helps (as Stan mentioned) to get the listing agent to like you, as they can influence the seller on which offer to take.

Here in Santa Clara, it's getting pretty bad, alot of homes have multiple bids and sell very quickly.
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Yup. Just in my little townhouse community, the houses go barely a week or two before selling well over asking with multiple offers.
 
silverbelt said:
...
Here in Santa Clara, it's getting pretty bad, alot of homes have multiple bids and sell very quickly.
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TheRobSJ said:
Yup. Just in my little townhouse community, the houses go barely a week or two before selling well over asking with multiple offers.
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its got to be a bubble...

bought my house in Dec 2012....and Zillows estimate has it $170K more than what we purchased it for...

there is no way my house jumped up that much in 7 months...even if Zillow was off $100K there is no way.

There may be a real nice affordable inventory coming up around the time school starts as everyone trying to make a butt load of $$ off their house start competing with each other....
 
CHUM said:
that's how we got ours - they had multiple offers, and ours was based on a contingency...they chose us, and knocked off $10K

a nice letter and pics of the kiddos does not hurt :thumbup
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You've gotta be a retarded seller if you allow the buyer's family life or physical appearance to sway your decision. I don't get it.
 
Beauregard said:
No but seriously, they took his offer because they wanted a family to live in their old home- no to sell it as someone else investment.
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I know this will sound insensitive, but the seller sounds like an old eccentric with more money than brains. Unless he built the house himself, what does he care what happens to it? Just take the highest offer with the highest confidence of closing, and call it a day.
 
Reli said:
You've gotta be a retarded seller if you allow the buyer's family life or physical appearance to sway your decision. I don't get it.
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:laughing

the seller LOVED the house...but due to divorce had to sell.

Raised her 2 children there for 20+ years.

She still lives in the neighborhood, and is active with education in our City.

Absolutely nothing retarded about it in any way shape or form - she made a good chunk of coin, made us (a new family) EXTREMELY happy...and will get to know our children as they grow up in our town knowing they are being raised in a rad house/neighborhood.


What's retarded is valuing $$ over community.
 
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